Nice: Part 1 - Day 1: Arrival and explore town

In February this year, we received a wedding invitation from our neighbour to celebrate their wedding in October in Nice, France, specifically at Domaine de Courmettes. I have heard of Nice but never thought of visiting it. It was a cold wintry February when we received that invitation and I thought, wow, October, that is the end of the year! Of course, we accepted the invitation because I do not usually say no to travelling to a new place. Plus, we decided to fly there one week earlier to celebrate my birthday too! What a lovely coincidence. :) I had planned that we spend a few nights in Nice and then in another village (Vence) closer to the wedding venue and then to the wedding venue at Domaine de Courmettes. 

I booked the flight tickets from Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) in June and I felt very nervous because it has been 2.5 years since I last flew. Thankfully, it was a 3-hour flight only. I thought the return flight tickets were expensive for SEK5555 per person. It is either that I purchased the tickets too late (almost close to 4 months before the departure date) or Covid made all flights expensive. 

Day 1 (Afternoon)

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 1 Afternoon.

25/9 Day 1: Airport --> Airbnb at Rue Bonaparte --> Colline du Chateau / Lou Casteu (Castle Hill) --> Stroll along Promenade des Anglais --> Dinner at Cafe Turin

Must-Incur Costs
None

Optional Costs
(A) Transport and accommodation

(1) Tram from terminal 2 (airport) towards Port Lympia. Alight at Garibaldi le Chateau station - EUR1,50

(2) 3 nights in AirBnb for 2 persons - SEK2.647,78 (including cleaning fees of SEK438,98)

(B) Food

(1) Lunch at Little Boho - Salad with smoked duck breast EUR17 (mine), Cordon bleu EUR18 (his), a glass of white wine EUR4,90 each and a cup of coffee EUR1,90 each

(2) Dinner at Cafe Turin - Fish soup EUR14,50 a bowl, 12 medium-sized shrimps EUR14, Schweppes tonic EUR5 (mine), 33cl Hoegaarden beer EUR7 (his)

The Story

25092022: Our flight departed from Stockholm at 0925 and we arrived at Nice's airport Cote d'Azur at 1230pm. 

Upon arrival, we bought the tram tickets from the machine which is right outside the exit. The skies were blue and the weather is warm. It was such a perfect weather in Nice! The tram has frequent services which arrives every 6 to 10 minutes. It takes about 27 minutes from the airport to town. 

It is recommended to wear masks in the train so we did. Plus, we did not want to fall sick during our trip and miss the wedding! In the tram, one has to validate the ticket by feeding it into a machine by the door of the tram,  

Our station to alight is Garibaldi le Chateau.

 

It was about 15 minutes to walk to our AirBnb, which is located on Rue Bonaparte, from Garibaldi la Chateau station. We received the passcode to open a lock that has the keys to the apartment. The lock was attached to a fence opposite the apartment. It is a self check-in which is very convenient. The door to the apartment is easy to miss if one walks too fast. Can you see the door which is between two shops?

The apartment had a musty smell when we went inside. My boyfriend who has asthma was worried that it might be fungus and I contacted the hosts. The hosts explained that the musty smell was due to the rain and the smell will disappear when the sun appears. It was sunny the next day but the smell was still there albeit faint. We opened the windows to air the apartment but it did not do much help.

After checking in, we looked for a place to have lunch. We settled for a cafe in the center of the town as there were not many places that were opened. I think it was too late to have lunch. It was 2.50pm when we were looking for a cafe. It is possible that they have lunch times and then close the place until dinner time. 

My lunch was salad with grilled duck meat and the boyfriend had cordon bleu. Can you see the cheese oozing out? We had the house white wine which I understand is cheaper than having a wine from the menu. I do not drink a lot of wine in Stockholm so I am unsure if EUR4,90 for a glass of wine is cheap or expensive. We ended our lunch with coffee and coffee turns out to be espresso here. 

Stuffed from the meal, we headed out to the nearest attraction - Castle Hill. We walked up a flight of stairs which was good exercise to burn off lunch!

Castle Hill has several names in French - Colline du Chateau or Lou Casteu. On top of the hill is the ruins of a castle and one can see the coast of Nice along the Mediterranean Sea. There were very beautiful patterned steps and pavement up the hill. 

I wish I knew what tree is this! It is so large!

We saw the coast of Nice and went down to the beach which we did not realise were made up of large stones! The feet hurt when one walk on them barefooted. We did not take a dip in the Mediterranean Sea today because the clouds were grey and we could feel some raindrops, plus, no one else was on the beach.

We left the beach and went into town. 

We found ourselves walking by the pier and admiring the boats.

For dinner, we went to a seafood restaurant which we did not know was a recommended place. We had fish soup which was so delicious! I asked the waiter what was in the fish soup and he mentioned that it has mackerels and other seafood that were cooked for a long time. We were served with bread and actual garlic. The waiter showed us how to eat it - rub the garlic on the bread and dip in the fish soup - SO DELICIOUS!

Because it is a seafood restaurant and we saw all customers (except us) ordered a plate of fresh seafood. My boyfriend does not like seafood so we settled on a plate of fresh prawns which was a bit of a chore to deshell and devein them.